Yes, the FEC has ruled Bitcoins can now be given to politicians as an in-kind donation, similar to stocks. It was pretty unexpected of them to do so, most agencies simply dance around the subject for a long time to avoid making any real decision.

You could get physical Bitcoins the moment the Bitcoin protocol was released. That said, a physical bitcoin is actually just a serial number (a private key). If anyone offers you a coin with no apparent sign of a serial number on it, you're getting swindled. Also, that coin looks like shit compared to say, a Casascius coin.

That said, a physical bitcoin is actually just a serial number (a private key).

Is the number one a physical thing?

The number one is not a unique identifier attached to a network. All bitcoins exist, physically, on harddrives/thumb drives/sheets of paper/coins. There is no such thing as a bitcoin that is not physical.